A/HRC/7/11 page 4 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 6/29, extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (“right to the highest attainable standard of health” or “right to health”) set out in the Commission on Human Rights resolutions 2002/31 and 2004/27. The present report is submitted in accordance with that resolution. 2. The Special Rapporteur submitted an interim report to the General Assembly (A/62/214) at its sixty-second session in October 2007, in which three issues were considered. The first is how to prioritize health interventions, given that budgets are finite. Second, the report outlines a right-to-health impact assessment methodology. Third, it highlights the vital importance of underlying determinants of health, with particular reference to safe water and adequate sanitation. The report also includes an overview of the Special Rapporteur’s activities between November 2006 and July 2007. 3. Between July and December 2007, the Special Rapporteur undertook two missions - to Colombia (in September), focusing on aerial sprayings of illicit coca crops along the border with Ecuador, and India (in November) on maternal mortality. Reports thereon will be submitted to the Human Rights Council in September 2008. 4. In August 2007, as part of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation International Lecture Series on Population Issues, the Special Rapporteur gave a lecture on “The Millennium Development Goals and the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health”, in Abuja, Nigeria. 5. On 19 September 2007, the draft Human Rights Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies in relation to Access to Medicines were launched, initiating a lengthy process of public consultation. In the light of this ongoing process, the revised final draft Guidelines will be published in 2008. 6. While at the University of Toronto, the Special Rapporteur also gave a public lecture on the right to the highest attainable standard of health. During the same month, he also addressed a London conference organized by Action for Global Health. 7. In October 2007, the Special Rapporteur was a keynote speaker at the 8th International Health Impact Assessment Conference, which took place in Dublin, Ireland. The Special Rapporteur also held a consultation, hosted by the British Medical Association, on accountability and the right to health. In New York, the Special Rapporteur met with the Open Society Institute to discuss his work on HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, he participated in a consultation, organized by the Brazilian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, on the draft Human Rights Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies in relation to Access to Medicines. Also in October, the Special Rapporteur spoke at the launch, which took place at the Women Deliver Conference in London, of the International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights.